The track and field world has spent the better part of the last decade being rocked by suspensions, bans, and medal revocations due to positive tests for banned substances.
U.S. Olympic gold medalist Gil Roberts was the latest athlete to face sanctions from the United States Anti-Doping Agency for a failed test. USADA suspended Roberts in May after he tested positive for probenecid in a March drug test.
Roberts, who won a gold medal with the 4 x 400-meter relay team in Rio, professed his innocence from the start with a rather unconventional explanation. He was simply getting it on with his girlfriend. Roberts said that the substance entered his system after he “frequently and passionately” kissed his girlfriend who was using Moxylong to treat a sinus infection.
An arbitrator has officially cleared Roberts and contends in the public case report.
The arbitrator concluded that Roberts “had no idea that kissing his girlfriend could lead to his ingesting a prohibited substance. When he kissed her he did not remember the taste of medicine in her mouth. …Thus for Roberts it must have been like lightning out of a clear blue sky for him to learn by kissing his girlfriend this time that he was exposing himself to a prohibited substance. Roberts has met his burden of proof.”
Good news for Roberts. His case is similar to that of world champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber who tested positive for cocaine after ingesting the drug from an escort.